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“Quit before you are done.”  What?  That is the advice I was given by an art teacher many years ago.  Her advice was an admonishment to the class to avoid overworking a painting to the point that you actually ruin it.  Any art students out there know what I’m talking about.  We have a tendency to just keep fussing and noodling with a painting until – uh oh!  Should have left it as is.

 

But when is a painting really finished?  In art, there doesn’t seem to be any real ending point, so it’s really hard sometimes to know when a painting is done.  In general, my ending point is when I feel that the painting says what I want it to say.  Some artists even deliberately leave certain areas of their paintings unfinished, feeling that whatever is there already conveys their message effectively.  But it’s not always that easy, especially if you have been staring at the same painting for days, even weeks.

 

Sometimes, in a desperate attempt to figure out if I’m done with a painting, I’ll ask Greg what he thinks of it.  All too often his response is something like, “Yeah, looks great”.  Not a big help really.  Other times I declare a painting finished when I’m so sick of looking at it I just don’t care anymore.  That’s usually an indication that I went too far. 

 

Like many artists, I have a hard time letting go of what I’ve been working on.  I spend way too much time fussing, changing minute details, looking at it upside down and sideways, backwards in a mirror, trying to find something else to change, improve, enhance, etc.  I often keep changing smaller and smaller details until it gets to the point that I can’t find anything left to change, or until the “improvements” are so tiny that it makes no difference at all.  That’s when I have to force myself to stop. 

 

But the best way I have found to finish a painting is to simply start a new one.  So I take a deep breath, and go through a ritual of sorts, in an effort to “let go”. I dismantle the still life set up, throw away any printed reference materials, clean my palette and brushes, empty the trash and tidy up my studio in an effort to make a new beginning.

 

As difficult as it is to finish a painting, it’s so exciting to start a new one.  So many high hopes for a masterpiece.  It may not get there, but the enthusiasm I feel when starting a new painting really elevates my mood.  I can’t wait to get into the studio every morning to continue the process. 

 

When you think about it, what is better than a fresh start?  A new beginning, a new chapter, full of hope for change, for something better.  So as we begin this brand-spanking-new year I wish you good health, prosperity, joy and wonder.  As someone once said “The start of something new brings the hope of something great.”  I sincerely hope there are great things in store for you in 2023!